HEARST, Ont. – Three third period goals broke open a tie game as the Hearst Lumberjacks went on to skate past the Cochrane Crunch 5-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Sunday with over 700 fans on hand at Claude Larose Arena.
Continuing to make his mark since returning the Lumberjacks line-up in late October, Spencer Silver scored for a third straight outing and ran a consecutive game point streak to five in succession, to put the hosts in front as he connected 17:03 into the contest.
Hearst extended their lead five minutes into the middle stanza when Olivier Cloutier-Faucher tallied for the seventh time in his past nine outings to make it 2-0.
Answering that, Cochrane countered with their captain Hunter Buzzi picking up a goal for a third straight match-up as his fifth of the campaign pulled the visitors to within one.
A late man advantage then helped the Crunch level the proceedings as Owen Perala scored on the power play at 17:49 to knot the affair at 2-2 after two.
In the third though, the Lumberjacks retook the lead for good on goals from Jake Desando and Max Griffioen to help secure the decision on home ice.
Silver then sealed the victory with an empty netter in the late going to wrap things up.
David Gobeil and Justin Miron chipped in with two assists to aid the Hearst offensive cause while Stephen Minichiello had a pair of helpers for Cochrane.
Shots on goal in the contest favoured the Lumberjacks by a 46-33 margin with Liam Oxner registering the win while Crunch starter Zach Wickson made 40 stops in defeat.
With the result, Hearst improved to 16-6-0-0 on the season while Cochrane slipped to 10-10-0-2.
